Sports Agenda For Monday (1/16/12)

Dwyane Wade #3 of the Miami Heat falls to the court with an injury in the fourth quarter against the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center on January 13, 2012 in Denver, Colorado. Wade left the game after the injury as the Nuggets defeated the Heat 117-104. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Big Story:
Instead of a sports lead here, I thought it proper to remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
He, along with several other pacifist leaders, kept the civil rights movement from descending into chaos; despite facing some of the most vile vitriol and abuse that bigoted people in the South ever could have done.
He should be remembered for his passion and his desire to unite instead of divide.
Now, on to the agenda.

NFL Playoffs:
TEBOWNED!!!
That would have been my headline from the Broncos demolition on Saturday night.
I called three of four games correct, damn Saints!
I’m telling you though, this looks like 2007 all over again, except Eli Manning is even better this time around.
But back to Tebow.
I think Saturday night’s game proved to the world what most of us sports writers already knew.
Tim Tebow is NOT an NFL quarterback.
He might work if he had a throwing quarterback as a change of pace guy, but if you’ve got 5 minutes to go in the game and need two quick touchdowns, he ain’t the guy you want back there.
Tebow completed nine passes….NINE!!!
His passing is absolutely abysmal, and it hasn’t improved while at Florida or in Denver.
It was smoke and mirrors and against a quality team, it was bound to blow up in his face, and it did.
Looking ahead to next weekend, I really think the Patriots can take down the Ravens, simply because they can outscore them.
I think the Giants will have a tougher go at it against the 49ers.
The weather in San Fran may be quite windy and blustery.
Course, the Giants deal with New York weather, so it may not be as big of a deal.
I still am going with New York versus New England in the Super Bowl no one west of the Mississippi River cares about!

Miami Heat: (next game, Tuesday vs. San Antonio Spurs)
The good news: you have eight of your next nine games at home.
The bad news: you lose Dwyane Wade for an undetermined period of time.
Wade’s injury is not as severe as the Heat are making it out to be. I think Wade needs a good two weeks of rest on his foot injury and this was a convenient way to get it.
Okay, so you lose D-Wade, and you’ve lost three in a row.
The world isn’t ending Heat fans.
Remember last year, they started 9-8? How’d they finish? Two games short of an NBA title.
I think it will make the offense more interesting heading into the next couple of weeks.
Think about it, you can bring in both Chalmers and Cole to really push the pace.
You can put James Jones into the game more to shoot the 3.
You’ll finally get Mike Miller back on the court for his rebounding and quick shot.
You can put LeBron at the 4 and Bosh at the 5 and bring in Cole, Jones, and Battier up top.
It’s just a whole lot of things you can do to really get everyone playing and get everyone acclimated to each other heading into the tough months of February-April.
All of it, while resting Wade for the next few weeks.
Plus, you can start putting Eddy Curry into the game for a few minutes a game and get him back into game shape.
If he comes back and gives you 7-10 points and 5-10 rebounds a night by the time the playoffs roll around, eyikes!
Relax Heat fans, there’s a long way to go and teams that overcome things like this early really see it payoff at the end.

Panthers: (vs. Boston Bruins, 7:30 p.m., Fox Sports Florida)
Fresh off a Friday drubbing at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Panthers return to the ice to play the ridiculously tough Boston Bruins.
The Cats have fallen off a cliff at the end of December and midway through January.
Florida has now fallen into a tie with the Washington Capitals in the Southeast Division.
And the Cats would be in seventh place in the Eastern Conference if the season ended today.
In other words, yikes.
The Panthers are 3-5-2 in their last 10 games and they had better right the ship ASAP.
The Cats head on the road Tuesday and face a good Avalanche, the first-place Chicago Blackhawks, and the Winnipeg Jets.

Dolphins:
I spoke earlier of Tebow, now the Fins may want his offensive coordinator.
WHY??? (as I channel my inner Nancy Kerrigan)
Okay, he did well crafting an offense for Tebow, but how’d that end up?
Give me a defensive guy and let him hire a solid offensive coordinator.
C’mon man, not a Bronco coach…please!